The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

73 THE LOCOMOTIVE. [May,
Greece has left us a priceless heritage of art and Rome a code of laws, but in the wake
of the Roman armies went the engineer building bridges, roads and aqueducts, making
intercommunication the easier and civilization more advanced. To-day, thanks to our
railway experts, the world is smaller than ever before — and is steadily growing smaller;
for distance is no longer computed in miles, but in length of time in transit. Once Xew
York and Liverpool were three months apart, now less than a week. "With the aid of
bridges like the St. Louis, the Brooklyn, and the Forth; tunnels like the Mersey, the
Sanaa, the St. Gothard; canals like the Manchester and the Suez; trains like the
.Limited and the Empire State Express, the engineer has done noble work for advancing
civilization by making intercommunication easier and removing that ever recurring
obstacle — ignoi'ance of other peoples. The influx of people to the large centers of popu-
lation has brought forward new problems, not only of travel but of pure water supply,
disposal of drainage, public health, all of which the engineer is called upon to solve.
Industrial history may lie dry reading, because it does not fire the ardor with thrilling
deeds on the field of battle. Some enthusiasm may be kindled over the success of
Robert Fulton with his steam engine and Edison with his phonograph, but little or none
over the success of John A. Roebling in building the Brooklyn Bridge, or the struggle
of our civil engineers to make our present railway travel fast and safe. But to the
engineering profession as a whole we must grant the credit for being the greatest prac-
tical civilizing agent we have.
From the principles underlying the profession of engineering only one result can
flow as a guide to what is, in a narrow sense, termed professional ethics or the guide to
professional conduct in particular cases. "Whether the relation is with the employer,
the client or the public, the ideals of the profession are high and well maintained. Men
in other callings get wide experience, great learning and national reputations. Their
opinions are sought after, and they frequently get into the dangerous condition of
thinking that their opinions are of weight merely because they are their own opinions.
The engineer, however, is daily and hourly trained by nature to know that his opinions
are worthless unless they are carefully deducted from authentic data. Naturally, then,
we get sounder and more mature judgment from engineers than from any other class of
we find less conceit in them, and more straight thinking from accurate data to
men ;
logical resiilts. Like other professional men the engineer has his clients whose interests
are his own. Honor and duty, therefore, are essential to his success, and become so
much a part of his professional equipment that he does not talk about them. The
reputable engineer takes for granted that he must love truth and truth only; that he
must have a direct purpose; that he must be devoted, to his work, and that he must be
guided only by the loftiest standards of conduct. All this comes from the exacting
requirements which nature puts upon him. Consider the responsibility attached to the
engineering profession. In matters religious a man selects his own church, his own
minister. In time of sickness he chooses the physician who shall attend him. Should he
be sued, he selects a lawyer to defend him; but, if he rides on a railroad train, does he
select the superintendent of motive power, by means of whose professional skill his journey
is made in safety? Are the future users of the new new East River Bridge, between
Xew York and Brooklyn, consulted in the selection of the civil engineers who are to
construct the bridge? The trust which the public has in the engineering profession lays
upon it a heavy obligation — greater than upon any other profession. For this reason
the engineer does not rely upon superficial observations. It is a peculiar trait of human
nature that the wish is father to the thought. If, then, observations prove to be as we
wish them, we are not apt to be critical ; but, if they give undesired results, we examine